I am Not Home by Caeli Harman

I am Not Home 24"x30"

Caeli Harman

Oil on canvas

$750

Artist Statement: 

In my most recent body of work titled, "In Search of the Garden", I seek to communicate the quest for identity through illustrative narratives employing formal concepts such as gestural line and saturated color. By utilizing relatable characters and wild landscapes formed by lighting and mark, I wish to explore the lengths we go to and the worlds we come across in our journey to find out who we really are.

Beginning with loose gestural sketches of oil paint, I quickly build thick, textured layers that create slashes of movement throughout the piece. Like most of my pieces, "I Am Not Home" showcases significantly developed faces and hands of figures. I wished for the figures to appear grounded in our reality, so viewers can more easily project themselves into the place of the characters. However, only so much feeling can be cultivated through body language, so the use of the textured, active lines within the landscape aid in bringing the piece to life.

I Am Not Home explores the unsettling feeling of homesickness. A central figure looks to the sky with a grim expression. Hugging a pillow close to her chest, she seems unable to sleep. All around lay versions of herself attempting to sleep in daylight, each sprawled in uncomfortable positions. Placed in a compass-like orientation, it appears that no matter where her pillow is laid, she cannot find her rest. The conscious figure, having given up sleeping, stands on an ethereal road that runs off the canvas, beckoning her onward. Poppies populate the foreground and field, a flower often associated with sleep for its connection to the drug, opium. Despite the flowers’ abundance, the woman still cannot rest. Intoxicating as the flower is, it has no power to entice her into sleep. Instead, the sky, brilliant in gold, peach and pink captivates her attention. The softness of the colors and the upward expansion of clouds seem to promise a place of rest beyond her reach. However, as the road mirrors the colors of the sky, her journey forward may eventually lead her home.

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Artwork can be arranged for pick up at Overt Space Gallery + Gift 130 E Main St, Stoughton, WI 53589